Wildflowers of Every Color

06/03/2008 18:15 Mountain

Hello Friends,

I wanted to follow up on my rockin mountain bike ride this past weekend. It wasn't EPIC, but it was a great Sunday morning ride.

I started from my home in Pinebrook and went under I-80 to the Jeremy Ranch side. Past the LDS temple, parking lot packed to the gills and down the back nine of Jeremy Ranch Golf Club.

At the back of the course, in the scrub brush, starts a gnarly climb from the valley floor. 25 minutes up, up, up so now I am looking down on the manicured lawns of the golf course.

Wildflowers - yello, blue, red, purple are springing up everywhere. As I climb the trail known as 24/7, I start to level off - still climbing, but some rollers come in every once and a while. I climb high enough to meet with the Preerve Connector and then the Flying Dog trail.

I have never been on the Flying Dog before, but I immediately liked it as it took me from southwest facing slopes to northeast - the trail was firmer (not as sandy as the front side) and the wildflowers were everywhere. The colors were more intense. Blues and purples mixed. Stunning!!

The Flying Dog kep winding up, up, up and provided great views of the Jeremy Ranch and Pinebrook neighborhoods and my new home in Southridge! I turned around after savoring the view and enjoyed the rolling downhill with a few creek crossings - merging with the Preserve Connector and heading up and around the backside of Jeremy Ranch and cresting the Preserve neighborhood.

Here, they are putting in new roads (like we need more new roads for 2nd/3rd homes that are 4000-6000 square feet. Do these people care about the environment when they are in these homes 2-4 weeks out of the year? Regardless, I crossed the road and headed up to the trail connector and the largest mule deer I have ever seen galloped across the road.

When I say large, I mean large. It was galloping in S-L-O-W motion and I could see every muscle fiber in its hind quarters propelling it across the road. It seemed as though it took 4 steps to cover 30 yards. It was majestic - sort of like the scene in the Queen when she saw the buck.

For a lazy Sunday morning ride, it was quite phenomenal. Flora, fauna, blue skies, and a decent sweat.

Have a great day,
Brian